Pakistan to conduct multinational naval exercise ‘Aman-17’

KARACHI: Naval exercise ‘Aman-17’ will begin in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Karachi from tomorrow (Friday).

The international naval exercise will begin from February 10-14, with around 36 countries participating or observing the event. Russian ships will for the first time attending the Aman series naval exercise.

The ships from participating countries are reaching Karachi to participate in the exercise. The Russian and Sri Lankan ships have anchored near the port. Three ships of Chinese navy have also arrived Karachi, while US Navy ships on their way to attend the exercise.

The joint exercise will be conducted by navies from 12 countries including Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States while envoys from 31 countries will observe the exercises.

The ‘Aman-17’ will include ships, aircraft, helicopters, Special Operations Forces (SOF), Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD), marines and observers from regional as well extra-regional navies.

Pakistan has held Aman naval exercises every alternate year since 2007.
Previously, four exercises of AMAN series have been organised in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 in which large number of ships, special operation forces (SOF) and observers from leading navies of the region/world participated.

The current exercise is the fifth of the series, being held from 10-14 February 2017.